Book Review: London Tides by Carla Laureano

“Ten years wondering how she’d feel if she saw him again. Ten years convincing herself that time and distance would change things. Pure rubbish, all of it. She still loved him. And he still hadn’t forgiven her.”

From the Publisher:

“Will Grace give up her picture-perfect career for a second chance at love?

Irish photojournalist Grace Brennan travels the world’s war zones documenting the helpless and forgotten. After the death of her friend and mentor in the field, Grace is shaken.

She returns to London hoping to rekindle the spark with the only man she ever loved—Scottish businessman Ian MacDonald. But he gave up his championship rowing career and dreams of Olympic gold years ago for Grace … only for her to choose career over him. Will life’s tides bring them back together or tear them apart for good this time?”

My Review:

I honestly want this book to become a person so that I can take it to Las Vegas (or London in this case) and marry it.

I received London Tides as a review copy a while back but never got around to reading it until recently before I left on my trip to London. I thought it might get me in the mood to travel across the pond and explore the glorious city of London.

I started it before the trip and finished it on the flight back from Europe. On the way back, I was full of sorrow and nostalgia because of the recent memories that the book brought back.

I adored this book from the first sentence to the very last!

Even though I received a free, digital copy from the publisher to review, I needed to buy a physical copy that I could flip through and sniff all the time.

So I did.

If I own a book, I usually don’t buy it a second time. That should say a lot about how amazing it was!

The setting is so realistic, the characters are perfectly flawed, and the story is so deep and satisfying.

I have read a lot of books where the male character has a troubled past and the girl comes in and fixes all of his troubles – sometimes it’s the girl with the issues in her life and the hero swoops in and saves her at the perfect time – this is not that type of book.

Grace is a strong, tattoo-covered, down-to-earth character who has a troubled past but is a true fighter; and instead of Ian swooping in to save her when things get bad, he holds her and fights along side of her. That is how I think stories should really be.

As for Ian… This is my list of things that I love about him:

He has a Scottish accent

He lives in London

He’s romantic (not the lovey-dovey type, though)

He has a Scottish accent

He fights for the things that he loves

He comes up with the coolest dates ever

He has a Scottish accent

I could keep going, but I think you get the point.

This is a deep, inspiring, gritty novel about fighting against one’s struggles, learning to trust, and pushing through life even when things get hard.

This book gets my vote for the top contemporary fiction book of the year!!!

♪♫ Yoooooouuu should buy it tooooooo ♪♫

(I’m in a musical mood today, which means I randomly burst out into song and sing my sentences instead of just saying them. Saying them is just ♪ booorrrriiiinnnnggg!!! ♪)

Did you just sing that in your head?

I bet you did!

Don’t even try to deny it.

It’s fun to do, I won’t judge.

♫ I— will keeeep annoying you with soooooong until you decide to taaake me seriouslyyyy and reeeeaaaaadddd the booooook!!!♫

I know, it’s impossible to take me seriously but even still, ♫ REAAAAD IT!!! ♫

*bows*

*curtains close*

Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Ha!

You thought you got rid of me, didn’t you?

Well guess what,

♫ I am baaaaack for the raaating!!! ♫

♫You can’t get rid of meeeee♫

As you can ♪obviously♪ see, I give this book many stars! It’s definitely worth the read! I’ll miss Grace and Ian quite terribly.